Tish Streeten

Tish Streeten was born and grew up in Oxford, England. She studied agricultural botany at the University College of North Wales and then decided she could learn more from practical work in the field. For the next ten years she worked throughout Europe and America as an organic farmer, gardener, fruit picker and herbalist. In 1979 she went to work with Danilo Dolci in Sicily as the resident gardener for the Centro Studi e Iniziative. Tish was in Sicily for almost three years. In 1982 Tish came to New York to make documentary films, studying for one year at New York University with George Stoney and Brian Winston. Here she made her first film, 'Community Dig', a short documentary about an archaeological excavation in Greenwich Village, which aired on public television. Tish has since worked as producer, editor, researcher, post-production supervisor, sound editor, sound recordist and assistant editor on many independent, cable and public television documentaries. Recently Tish produced, directed and edited 'Sicilian Sojourn', a 20 minute documentary on responsible tourism and the cultural traditions of Sicily. She also co-produced and edited 'Ecological Design: Inventing the Future', which has won many awards and was shown at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. She was researcher and co-producer of 'Sangoma', a film for Canadian television about traditional healers in South Africa. A few years ago Tish worked on the highly acclaimed television series, 'Healing and the Mind' with Bill Moyers. She is currently producing two series - one called 'Green Witches', on women herbalists and traditional healers world wide; and another, 'Trees That Heal', about medicinal trees world wide. Juliette of the Herbs (1998) was Tish's first feature length documentary. Tish formed her production company, Mabinogion Films, to produce and distribute documentaries on women, the environment and the cultural traditions of the world. 'Sicilian Sojourn' grew out of three years living and working with the people of Sicily. 'Juliette of the Herbs' was seven years in the making. For Tish, the film making process is one of organic growth. Tish produces, directs, writes, edits and records sound for her films. She also does the research, fund-raising and distribution.